Suzi Kaplan Olmsted - One Poem

Jenette Bras

Bras are not just places we put our boobs
so many names for them
tits melons tatas
I woke up one morning to the news
that a bra would be accompanying me on the rest of my journey
day bras, convertible bras, sexy bras, utilitarian bras, sport bras,
comfy bras, bras for sleep and for sex and bras that hurt my neck,
and bras that leave red angry marks where they used to be
or they would, if I ever took them off
I went topless once at a sunny Southern California party
when I was 19
everyone else was running around freed from the confines of clothes
I thought I’d give it a shot
I sunburned my nipples
I never sun anything
I hate the sun
Now I’ll get skin cancer on my jugs hooters boobies
cause everyone was doing it
Jenette is a success, if you want to be a working actor
She works and works –
from my bed I can see her face on my husband’s vampire movie poster
not her only significant role
she was a senior when I was a freshman, and I don’t feel like we’re old
but Hollywood, demon town, East, West or Other
treats her like an old lady now
I gasped the last time I saw her in a movie
Since then I saw her in her eponymous Hollywood lingerie store
fitting a reality show actress with her first bra
she probably doesn’t look much older than I do
but I like to think she does
and now, she could fit a bra for me
tell me how it looks
(but I would never ask her)



*Jenette Goldstein of “Near Dark” -
Jenette Bras is actually the name of her store.



Suzi Kaplan Olmsted has appeared in The Sun, Blue Satellite, 51%, F.T.S, Big Scream, poetrysuperhighway.com, M.A.G., Lummox Journal, getunderground.com and Napalm Health Spa. She is also one of illustrators of The Ellyn Maybe Coloring Book edited by Exxene Cervenka (Sacred Beverage Press, 1997) as well as the Beatitude Golden Anniversary volume.. Nominated for a Pushcart Prize for a poem from her chapbook Industrial Wallet (Virgogray Press), she has another chapbook forthcoming, Elektra’s Mouth.